Arkansas African American Legislators, 1868-1893
A traveling exhibit of the Black History Commission of Arkansas
and the Arkansas State Archives
Southern Arkansas University – Magale Library
October 3, 2018 – November 14, 2018
Arkansas African American Legislators, 1868-1893 tells the story of the eighty-five African Americans who served in the Arkansas General Assembly in the 19th century. After the Civil War, Arkansas adopted a new constitution in 1868 and its provisions included the right to vote and hold public office for black males. African American lawyers, merchants, ministers, educators, farmers, and other professionals served in the Arkansas General Assembly. Photographs of forty-six of the eighty-five legislators are an integral part of the display. Also featured is a complete listing of the legislators and a short history of post-Civil War and election law “reforms” that effectively ended African Americans election to legislative positions until the 1970s.
The mission of the Black History Commission of Arkansas is to collect black historical materials for the Arkansas State Archives; to encourage research in Arkansas black history; and to cooperate with the Arkansas Department of Education in the development of African American historical materials for use in public schools. The BHCA produces exhibits, hosts seminars, offers free educational material on African American history, and administers the Curtis H. Sykes Memorial Grant Program to fund projects related to African American history in Arkansas.
Founded in 1905, the Arkansas State Archives is dedicated to collecting and preserving the documentary history of Arkansas. The Arkansas State Archives is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and shares the goal of all eight Department of Arkansas Heritage agencies, that of preserving and enhancing the heritage of the state of Arkansas. The agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Arkansas State Archives, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and the Old State House Museum. To learn more about the Arkansas State Archives and the Black History Commission of Arkansas visit https://www.arkansasheritage.com/arkansasstatearchives/home.
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“Arkansas African American Legislators, 1868-1893” is a traveling exhibit produced by the Black History Commission of Arkansas and the Arkansas State Archives. Eight-five African Americans are known to have served in the Arkansas General Assembly between 1868 and 1893. African American did not serve again in the General Assembly until 1973. Images of panels 1 and 4 from the exhibit. Images from the Arkansas State Archives. | ||
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William H. Grey (1829-1888) was elected to the legislature from Phillips County in 1868-69, during the first session in which African Americans were allowed to serve the Arkansas General Assemble. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1829, Grey moved from Missouri to Helena in 1863, where he was a business man and planter. Governor Baxter appointed Grey the Commission of Immigration and State Lands in 1872. Image from the collections of the Arkansas State Archives. | |||
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Isaac George Bailey of Desha County served in the Arkansas House of Representative in 1885. Born in Chicot County in 1846, Bailey was an educator and a Baptist minister. Image from the collections of the Arkansas State Archives. | |||
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Benjamin F. (“B. Frank”) Adair was born in Arkansas in 1853 and was a lawyer in Woodruff County in 1880. He served as a state representative from Pulaski County in the Arkansas General Assembly in 1891. Adair was a member of the Wonder State Bar Association, a Black attorney organization, in 1901. Image courtesy of the Arkansas State Archives. | |||
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George W. Bell represented Desha and Chicot Counties in the Arkansas Senate in 1891 and 1893. He worked as a teacher, doctor, travel agent, insurance agent, and professor and president of Southland College near Helena. Bell led the movement against the Tillman Bill, which provided for segregation of railroad and trolley cars. He was one of the last African Americans to serve in the Arkansas General Assembly in the 19th Century. Image from the collections of the Arkansas State Archives. | |||
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| Wintory, Blake. “African–American Legislators in the Arkansas General Assembly, 1868–1893: Another Look.” In A Confused and Confusing Affair: Arkansas and Reconstruction, edited by Mark Christ, 86–145. Little Rock: Butler Center Books, 2018. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/african-american-legislators-nineteenth-century-13932/ | ||||
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